Rationale: To be
considered a fluent reader, a student must not only be able to read out
loud but must also read silently. However, while reading silently, the
student must still comprehend the reading. In this lesson, students
will learn to read silently by watching the modeling, by reading and
rereading connected text, James and the Good Day.

Materials:
class set of
James and the Good Day, sentence strip with „Red is a fat pig.
He is sad.š written on it, and silent reading check list

Check List:

___ Reads Aloud

___ Reads in a whisper

___ Reads while moving lips

___ Reads silently

Procedure:

1. Introduction. „We
have learned to decode words. We have learned the letter and sound
correspondences. And, all of you have become fluent, successful
readers.š „Today, we are going to work on reading silently. You are
already doing so well reading aloud that we are going to try reading
silently to ourselves. When you read silently, you can read faster.
And, you usually don‚t read out loud in public. So, practicing reading
silently is very important.š

2. Explain and Model.
„When you read silently, you say the words in your head. You do not
make a sound when you silent read. If you come to a word that you are
not sure of, you can use cover-ups just like when you are reading
aloud. I am going to show you how to read silently. First, I am going
to read the sentence out loud. „Red is a fat pig. He is sad.š Now, I am
going to read in a whisper. (Read sentence). The next step is reading
with just moving our lips. (Read sentence). Now, I am going to read the
sentence to myself. We must remember to be sure that we understand the
story as we are reading silently.š

3. Next, I will pass a
copy of
James and the Good Day to each student. Give a book talk:
„James wants to have a good day. He decides to sail his boat in the
tub. But, he forgets to turn the water off. What do you think will
happen? Will there be a big mess? You will have to read James and
the Good Day to find out.š

4. Practice:š Now, you
will read
James and the Good Day silently. After we all finish reading,
we will talk about the story to be sure that everyone understood.š

5. Assessment: I will
walk around the room and watch each student reading. I will use this
checklist to assess their silent reading.

Check List:

___ Reads Aloud

___ Reads in a whisper

___ Reads while moving lips

___ Reads silently

After each student is
finished reading, we will discuss the book as a group. I will ask
questions such as „What happened to James?š and „Did he have a good
day?š. I will assess the answers that the students give to check
and be sure that they understood what they read silently.